Be My Valentine
by Izzia
Summary: It’s Valentines Day and there’s a ghost who feeds off love floating around. Too bad that Casper High is full of superficial love…or is it? Danny x Sam. Chapter 3 up: The dance. Will danny & sam end up together? COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

_I haven't watched very many of the episodes coz they hardly ever show Danny Phantom in the UK (damn you nick toons, damn you! (shakes fist in anger)). So sorry if this doesn't make sense! I'm usually a Final Fantasy 7 'Reno and The Turks' writer; I've never tried a cartoon fanfic before, but here goes!_

**Be my Valentine**

Danny sighed, miserably slouching over his cereal bowl, absent-mindedly swirling the contents of the bowl around with his spoon as he tried to build up some kind of appetite. The pool of apprehension sitting at the pit of his stomach did not help matters. He wasn't looking forward to today, not one bit. Jaz was sat next to him, her head buried in a book as she mumbled some equation or other between bites of cereal.

"Hi kids!" Maddy called as she came into the kitchen, a smile on her lips as she clicked the kettle on and sat next to Jaz humming gently to herself. A few minutes passed in silence before Jaz seemed to register that her mother was in the room, she let her book drop a little and tried to remember what it was that she meant to ask her.

"Oh! Mum! Can I go to the valentines ball tonight?" She asked gleefully. Tim Coban from the year above her had asked her to be his date the day before, and he was such a dreamboat. Tall and handsome with well-conditioned mid-length brown hair that swept across his deep blue eyes, his voice silky and smooth and average test score was a solid A. Maddy narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

"You're not going with any boys who own a motorbike are you?" She asked in a clipped voice remembering that pasty boy she was once interested in who was rather too fond of his motorbike; Johnny something or other…

"No!" Jaz snapped, brows knitted together at having to answer such a dumb question. Maddy's smile lit up again as she went over to the kettle which had just boiled and made herself some tea.

"Okay hon! Sure! What about you Danny? Are you going?" This was the subject that had Danny's stomach all twisted up; Valentines Day.

"Going where?" Jack Fenton asked seriously as he stepped into the room. Maddy smiled to her husband and informed him of the Valentines Day ball at Casper High School. "Oh that's great!" Jack beamed at his kids "Ah Maddy! They're growing up aren't they? Do you remember our first Valentines Day? We pogoed like there was no tomorrow." Danny rolled his eyes and lazily stood up, grabbing his school bag that was resting on the otherwise empty chair next to him.

"I'm going to school." He mumbled, keen to escape his crazy parents' trip down memory lane. Jaz was also keen to get to school all of a sudden, as she rushed past Danny, almost knocking him over in her attempt to be gone before they started to talk about moonlit walks interrupted with ghosts that were only sheets that had blown off someone's washing line.

School was not much better, notices and posters about the dance were up everywhere and everyone was getting excited by it; everyone but himself and Sam. He had already asked Paulina and she had laughed in his face. If Paulina didn't want to go with him, he wasn't going.

By lunchtime Tucker was off asking every other person who resembled a girl to the dance leaving Danny and Sam alone together.

"Valentines Day is so cheap." Sam moaned, sipping her orange juice cartoon and slouching over the picnic bench. Danny had his chin rested in his hand and a glower on his face as he watched Paulina prance about in her new shirt to Dash.

"What's so good about Dash anyway? I mean look at him!" Danny moaned, gesturing to the stocky blonde whose eyes were focused just a little bit too far below Paulina's chin to be acceptable. He didn't even look up to her face when he replied; it was like his eyes were glued to her chest or something. Sam continued her rant about the cheapness of Valentines Day, refusing to comment on Paulina.

"Why do people think that there is only one day a year that they can express their love to one another and feel compelled to buy a collection of kitsch plastic hearts and wilting flowers? It's ridiculous!"

"I know!" Danny agreed, having only listened to the last part of her rant and assumed she was talking about Dash and Paulina. "Does she actually _like _him staring down her top the whole time? What does she see in that doofus anyway?"

"And what's the point of a Valentines Day card anyhow? All this 'from your secret admirer' rubbish. If you fancy someone you just come right out and say it without needing some commercial tat to give you an excuse. I mean why write someone a card and not tell them who it's from!" She moaned, taking a red envelope out of her bag and glancing briefly at Danny who was still scowling in the general direction of Dash and Paulina.

"So you think I should send Paulina a card?" Danny asked her, Sam rolled her eyes and took the card out of the envelope

"Who? What? Were you even listening to me Danny, or were you just selecting the bits you wanted to hear?" Danny had noticed the card in her hand; it had a big red heart on the front and the words _Be My Special Valentine _scrolled across the top.

"Whoa! Who are you giving that to, seriously Sam I would have thought you'd be above Valentines Day." Sam scowled and opened the card re-reading it for the tenth time that day. It was sighed '_from your secret admirer.' _Her cheeks flushed a little red as she quietly asked Danny;

"…So you didn't send it then?" Danny pulled a face and looked at the card

"Someone sent it to you? Who?" Sam sighed on seeing it wasn't Danny who had sent it, wishing her cheeks would stop feeling so damned hot.

"I dunno who sent it." Her voice was laced in disappointment.

Danny was now scowling at her, forgetting about Paulina for the time being. "Well have you been flirting with anyone? Who would send it? You must have been flirting with someone for them to come right out and send you a Valentines card." He snapped in a sharper tone than he had meant to use. Sam's cheeks raged even redder, but in anger rather than embarrassment.

"I have _not _been flirting with anyone! Why should you care anyway?" She snapped, annoyed at the accusing tone of voice Danny had used on her. Danny sighed angrily and raised his hands in surrender

"Alright. I _don't _care." He muttered under his breath, knowing full well that he did care; it was just that he'd rather not, given the choice. But hormones didn't seem to listen to his reasoning so he just had to go with the flow and keep on trying to convince himself that it was Paulina he liked. Paulina. His eyes darted from Paulina, back to Sam then defiantly towards Paulina again, muttering under his breath and trying to remember what it was he was talking about before Sam had started waving that damned card about.

"…So you think I should send Paulina a card?" He asked again, to which Sam rolled her eyes and shut the card.

"No! Yes! I DON'T GIVE TWO HOOTS DANNY FENTON!" She snapped, picking her bag up, anger written in her expressions, "I wish you'd grow up and realise that _that_ excuse for a girl is a two-dimensional, dim-witted moron! I should think by the time you come to realise that, all the girls who could make you happy will have grown up themselves and come to realise that you, Danny, are a fool and just as shallow as the dumb little hussy you so pine over!" With that she spun on her heel and stormed off. Danny's furrowed brows marked the fact that he hadn't a clue what she had just said, but she was angry and he felt bad about it.

She had barely rounded the corner before a shiver went up his spine and cool vapour escaped from his mouth in announcement of a ghost being in the vicinity. He sighed and scanned the playground for signs of spectral behaviour. At first he saw nothing suspicious; but then out of the corner of his eye he spotted a rather pasty looking skinny kid with eyes just a little too green to be human and blonde feathered hair so fair it was almost as white as Danny's ghost-mode hair. He was stood a metre or so away from a couple of kids in Jaz's year who were currently giving one another rather nasty love-bites. The gleeful grin on his face was moronic to say the least as he perved on the couple with drool escaping down his chin. Had his eyes not had that suspicious glow Danny would have immediately passed him off as one of the outcast geeks who had no friends for a good reason. As the ogling spook didn't seem to be trying to kill anyone Danny decided to hang back and watch to see what he was up to. He got his Fenton Thermos from his bag in readiness just in case it decided to go in for the kill.

After five minutes the kissing couple had noticed the gleeful stares of the ashen-faced ghost-kid and quickly moved away with horrified expressions. The kid was not fazed; instead he quickly found another kissing couple and proceeded in staring at them until they too ran off irritably. The more Danny watched the further he could see that this ghost was _weird,_ it just went from couple to couple leering at them until they noticed. It seemed odd that the leering ghost seemed to grow a little less lanky and little more toned as he worked through the many kissing couples (there weren't usually so many kissers about, Danny blamed Saint Valentine.) The bell for the end of morning break sounded causing a whole lot of nothing to happen. Slowly in the space of five minutes people ambled back to classes in no particular hurry to arrive on time, perhaps it was the holiday spirit, but in truth it was the same everyday. Danny was just usually hurried along to class by Tucker and Sam and never saw the slow saunter of the less enthusiastic students. This time there was no Sam or Tucker to drag him away to Lancer's 'Hip and Trendy' English class. Instead he watched the spectre ogle at one last couple before all were gone and it was left alone, seemingly searching for any other couples who had hidden themselves up a tree.

Danny quickly made his way over to the ghost and tapped him on the shoulder, making it jump, it's green eyes widening for a moment.

"Whoa! Er…hi?" The ghost muttered, it really didn't look much like a ghost, but Danny's shivering told him his instincts had been correct and he was a ghost.

"You're a ghost aren't you?" Danny asked with a fake smile, his Fenton Thermos held behind his back. The ghost seemed to pale, if that was possible as it's skin was already a nice shade of grey.

"Er…yeah…but right now I'm not doing anyone any harm here am I? Not all ghosts are so bad eh?" He stuttered, clearly afraid. Danny considered this for a moment, smacking his lips together and gripping the Thermos tighter.

"…Well what are you up to? I saw you leering at all those happy couples back there." The ghost suddenly grinned, relaxing a little seeing as Danny wasn't attacking him or anything.

"Well, it's Valentines Day…The names Cupid. I…er…feed off love basically…" Danny was a little taken aback, from all those dull art classes he had sat through he had been led to believe that cupid was a fat naked baby. While this ghost-kid didn't look too attractive, he certainly wasn't fat, naked or a baby.

"No way? _The _cupid?" He asked dumbfounded, Cupid rolled his eyes and shifted his position a little as he explained.

"Nah. I get that a lot though. I'm just called Cupid and I feed off love. I don't make people fall in love or anything. I just get strength from the energy that loving couples emit….too bad this dump is full of shallow, fake-love." He moaned to himself, looking down at the ground, his glowing green eyes looking mournful. "I mean I'm only allowed out of the ghost world one lousy day in the year and then all I can find is a bunch of teenagers who play at being in love but base their entire relationships on who's popular and good looking. It means I don't get the energy I need to get back to my old self again." Danny gave the ghost a perplexed look, torn between just sucking him into Thermos and getting to Lancer's lesson at a reasonable time, and standing there to discover what this Cupid fellow had to say. He chose Cupid; ghosts interested him more than onomatopoeias and similes.

"You get strength from love, but the couples here are just superficial with no love shared between them other than the love of their combined image?" He asked, feeling he was sounding just a bit too much like Sam for his own good lately. Cupid nodded enthusiastically; glad to be sharing his woes with someone for once.

"Exactly. And I can only do this once a year, I get all my nutrients on February the 14th, by January the following year I'm wasted away to nothing, as you can see. My true form is far greater and immense than I look now. Unless I get all my nutrients today, all the bigger ghosts'll beat me to pulp again. If I get enough love today so that I'm back to my old self I can cause enough wrath to get people to steer clear of me for almost a year." Danny nodded, feeling a little sorry for this weedy kid now he had heard his story, and if he was intending to go back to the ghost world once he was loved up then surely he could just leave him be?

"Why don't you go and look for some adults, they usually love one another more genuinely." He suggested helpfully, rubbing the back of his neck, as he felt a bit weird having a conversation with a ghost.

"Wanna bet?" Cupid grinned, adults weren't much better than teenagers "The ones who genuinely love one another don't usually spend Valentines Day any differently from any other. So by the time they get back from work and are all lovey dovey my time in this world is almost over. I wanna get filled up on my years worth of love as early as possible so I can enjoy my strength with the remaining hours I have here and cause some _sweet_ commotion. Man! I can't wait until the valentines day ball tonight, I reckon there'll be at least one genuine couple there, and that's all it takes, other wise there'll be enough half-love there to fill me up alright and I can cause some sweet havoc before midnight calls!" He whooped, excited at the thought. So, this ghost _was_ like all the others, he _did_ want to cause upset and commotion; it was just that he was too weak to do so yet. Cupid seemed to see that he had said too much and turned invisible, melting into the ground. Just as Danny was about to 'go ghost' and chase after him he felt a firm grip on his shoulder.

"Fenton! You'll be in my office every night after school if you don't come to class right now!" Mr Lancer snapped. Danny's jaw dropped, he quickly stuffed the Thermos into his bag.

"Er, why aren't _you _in class sir?" Danny asked as Lancer led him back up to school. Mr Lancer tutted and shook his head

"An incident with my mother, her cat and a rifle caused me to be delayed, Miss Duke the supply teacher is filling in for me right now. Danny, I will have to have a word with your parents about this tardiness." He said in a disappointed tone of voice. Danny lowered his head miserably, just what he needed, his parents getting angry at him again. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and followed his teacher into the classroom, darting to the desk between Tucker and Sam and getting his books from his bag. He tried to ignore Sam's scowls as Mr Lancer thanked Miss Duke for filling in for him and waved her goodbye.

"Hi Danny. What took you so long?" Tuck asked, leaning back in his chair with his hands behind his head. Sam wasn't in a good mood with Danny, Tucker had already guessed that when she came into class muttering under her breath about how dumb Danny was and then something about fancying someone, to be honest he hadn't really been listening.

"Pining over Paul-eeeena." Sam mocked in a sneering and ever-so-slightly bitter voice. Danny frowned at her, why was she being so touchy about Paulina all of a sudden, she'd never been this bad before.

"Actually I was tracking down a ghost. Right after you left I sensed one. It turned out to be a ghost who feeds off love…" He started to explain it all in hushed intonations as Lancer read a passage from Mary Shelley's _Frankenstein. _

"…And I call on you, spirits of the dead; and on you, wandering ministers of vengeance, to aid and conduct me in my work. Let the cursed and hellish monster drink deep of agony; let him feel the DESPAIR OF HAVING TO TEACH A BUNCH OF INSOLENT HALF-WITS! _FENTON!_ Be quiet or I shall call on those wandering ministers of vengeance otherwise known as your parents!" He yelled with impatience in his voice. The whole class were had turned round to stare at Danny, who had by now gone a rather bright shade of crimson. He kept the ghost discussions quiet until the lesson change over an hour later.

"Well that dumb ghost of yours certainly won't be any trouble seeing as there's about as much love here as there is in Mr Lancer's life: not much." Sam commented, clutching her books as they made their way to science class. Danny was glad she was at least talking to him; she had been ignoring him when they were allowed to quietly talk in English class earlier and it was starting to get on his nerves.

"Yeah, well he said he was going to the Valentines Ball, so I guess I'll have to go after all." He moaned, running his nimble fingers through his thick black hair and sighing over dramatically.

"You do know that you can only go if you have a date right?" Tucker asked just in case. Danny's face dropped, the spark in his blue eyes fizzled out.

"No, I didn't. Great, just great." He didn't hide the sarcasm in his voice as he collapsed onto his stool in the science room.

An hour of prodding a dead frog and listening to Sam rant about the poor little creature passed by slowly. She refused to jab at it with the scalpel as her two friends were nonchalantly doing whilst discussing who Danny could ask to the dance just so he could go there to make sure Cupid stayed nice and non-hostile. Tucker had circulated the class asking varying girls if they'd go with Danny to the dance, but they all already had dates, or just laughed at the idea. Meanwhile Sam was getting more and more irate, Tucker couldn't tell if it was the frog poking or Danny, but decided it was best just to steer clear of her for now.

"Maybe you could ask Denzel?" Tucker suggested after asking the last girl in their class. Danny took a moment away from sulking to look perplexed, staring at his friend fixedly.

"Denzel? Denzel is a boy." He pointed out simply. Tucker shrugged.

"I don't think you're in a position to be picky and Denzel is…well you know…he likes boys rather than girls and he asked me once if you were, y'know, gay, coz he thinks you're cute…I'm sure he'd love to go to the ball with you." Tucker said musically. Danny gaped and took a peek over his shoulder to where Denzel sat two rows back; he was dreamily staring at Danny, his chin in his right hand. He had deep brown eyes and dark floppy hair that swept across his forehead. He was very good looking and all the girls swooned over him, but come to think of it, he was always surrounded by girls, but never dated any of them. Well now Danny knew why.

Now that he had turned round Denzel gave him a cheeky little wave and a wink before Danny whipped back round again, wide eyed and open mouthed.

"Gee-zus! Er…I like girls." Danny insisted, resisting the urge to look back round and feeling a little disturbed at how flattered he felt. Sam rolled her eyes for the hundredth time that day, bending over the letter of complaint to the school she was writing regarding experimenting on animals.

Thankfully the lunch bell rang soon after and Sam pushed her way past Danny and Tucker, pacing off in a huff. Danny went to his locker, his shoulders hunched in defeat. Today was going as expected; terribly. As he moodily opened his locker he narrowed his eyes

"And what's Sam's problem anyway?" Danny finally asked, it had been bugging him. Tucker leant against the locker next to Danny's and voiced his opinions now that Sam had scampered off.

"Maybe she's offended that you didn't ask her to the ball?" He asked, he would have suggested her as a good candidate for Danny to ask to the ball sooner, but he didn't like to interfere in their odd relationship. Danny's stomach heaved a little; he put his books in his locker and tried to ignore the odd buzzing in his chest.

"Do you think that she wanted to go with me?" He asked hesitantly, glancing to his friend briefly, nervousness lacing his movements. Tucker arched a brow and leant towards his friend

"Hello in there? Anyone home? Of course she does Danny!" The buzz filled his chest until he was sure he'd explode, he gulped the feeling down and slowly closed his locker.

"I…I didn't ask her because I was scared she'd say no. I don't wanna loose her as a friend…" He said quietly, his eyes glazed over. Tuck pushed himself off the locker.

"Well, I think maybe you lost her as a friend by not asking her Danny." And that was all Tucker was going to say on the matter, he didn't like getting caught between them like this, and he'd be damned if he knew how the minds of women worked, even if he pretended that he was set on being a ladies man when he had graduated.

Danny sighed miserably, eyes fixed on the ground as they walked to the canteen for lunch.

"Well, when I see her I'm just gunna come right out and ask her." He promised himself as they sat at a bench for lunch. Between bites of his sandwich and a discussion about a video game with Tuck, Danny kept his eyes peeled for signs of a pasty looking perve, and a slender goth.

To Be Continued.

_Thanks for reading and please review! Cheers. _


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Lunch passed by slowly, Danny caught a brief glimpse of Cupid every now and then, but he was gone by the time he could find somewhere to go-ghost in privacy. To his disappointment he saw nothing of Sam throughout the whole of lunch, he still couldn't buy tickets yet as Sam hadn't said she'd definitely go with him. It took him most of the History lesson after lunch to bring up enough courage to ask her. He couldn't understand how saying one little sentence could have his nerves so shot to pieces. Eventually he pulled up enough nerve to ask.

"Er…Sam…would you…er" His cheeks flushed pink and he scratched the back of his neck, avoiding her eye contact "…would you come to the Valentines Ball with me?" He asked all in a rush, each word melting into the next. Sam looked daggers at him, her arms crossed over her chest and lips pressed together.

"Have you finally run out of people to ask Danny? Well I refuse to be the dregs of your 'who-to-date-in-case-of-ghost-emergency-at-dance' list. Besides, I'm already going with someone else." She snapped, her nose high in the air. Danny's insides felt as if they were contorting beyond recognition as jealously gripped hold of him.

"Who! Is that guy who sent you the valentine card? You _have _been flirting with someone else haven't you!" he said without thinking, going red at her reaction

"Someone else? Who have I ever flirted with Danny?" The bell broke her sentence in half, but she continued after it fell silent as she packed up her books "If you mean that before Richard came into my life this morning I was flirting with you, you got it wrong." With that she swung the bag onto her shoulder and paced out leaving Danny's jaw opening and closing like a goldfish.

"Well! I …I…that's…oh man!" Danny glowered, packing his own things into his bag. "Who's Richard?" He asked sulkily, Tucker shrugged preferring to steer clear of Danny/Sam tiffs. He did feel sorry for Danny though; he knew almost for a fact that Sam was lying when she said she hadn't been flirting with Danny before. But he didn't want to loose either as a friend so decided to let them solve their problems out on their own.

The next lesson was Geography and Sam had taken the spare desk at the back of the room rather than her usual one next to Danny, and at afternoon break she was gone before he could explain himself.

"Well, I have to buy a ticket now before they run out; and I have no date." Danny moaned, Tuckers eyes fell on Denzel who was sat on the grassy hill between the playground and the picnic benches that Danny and Tuck were sat at. He was surrounded by a gang of girls and kept stealing glances in Danny's direction.

"I think Denzel's your only hope Danny." Tucker said seriously, although he couldn't quite keep his lips from curling up as he tried to suppress laughter. Danny peeked in Denzel's direction again and grimaced. He was really going to have to do this, or else let a potentially dangerous ghost have free reign on a bunch of hormonal teenagers.

"Maybe Cupid won't attack anyone, he gets sucked into the ghost world at Midnight anyway…" He reasoned, really not wanting to have to go with Denzel.

"What if he kills someone Danny? You'd never forgive yourself." Tucker had a point there. A sudden image of Cupid killing a tall goth guy with five o'clock shadow, long greasy black hair and chunky New Rock boots with a name badge reading RICHARD on his lapel flashed into his mind making him grin from ear to ear. He had no idea what Richard actually looked like, but the image he had built up in his head seemed to suit the kind of guy who would be attracted to Sam. But then, he was attracted to Sam, and he was certainly years away from being able to have five o clock shadow, and he couldn't understand how people wore those New Rock boots! He allowed his daydream to continue where he came to the ball after all, alone. Sam pouted over Richard's dead body for a second before Danny tapped her on the shoulder (he was a little taller in his daydream, with hair a little shinier and his posture a little straighter as this was how he imagined Sam would want him to look.) He flashed Sam a perfect smile, everyone in the room melted away leaving them alone, staring into one another's eyes dreamily. He brushed a strand of hair from her eyes and stroked her cheek lightly; drawing in closer, heart pumping in his chest. As they drew closer their noses brushed one another and they closed their eyes, a warm feeling slipped into his stomach as their lips almost touched..

"DANNY!" The sound of Tuckers voice ripped him out of his fantasy world, back to the bitter and painful reality.

"Curse you Tucker!" He glowered darkly, shaking his fist. Tucker held down a chuckle to inform him that afternoon break was almost over and it was Denzel or nothing. The warm feeling that had filled his stomach and chest turned to ice as he realised he was going to have to do it. He stood up shakily, looking over to Denzel, who was at least no longer swooning at him. His feet seemed rooted to the spot though, he just stood staring trying to think his way out of the situation. Tucker leant forwards to Danny and gave him a heavy push, forcing Danny to move his legs or fall flat on his face; with the momentum of the push he found himself half way to Denzel already.

"Hiya Danny!" Denzel half squealed in a girly voice. Danny flushed red, rubbing the back of his neck. "How are you doing kitten?" Danny pressed his lips together, his eyes wide and brows pushed upwards in fear.

"Er…fine, just fine…Er…Denzel…I need to, er, go to the Valentine Ball tonight…and I…" Denzel looked as if Christmas had come early, his eyes lit up and he clapped his hands together

"Oh Danny! You don't know how many nights I have dreamt of this moment! Of course I'll go to the Ball with you! Did you hear that girls! I'm going to the Ball with Danny! Yay!" He giggled

"Yeah, er…but just as friends though eh?" He clarified, but Denzel was too excited to hear.

"I'll pick you up at seven! You live in that crazy house with that weird roof don't cha?" Denzel asked in a hurry. All Danny could do was nod and turn around, going back to Tucker, who was rolling about in laughter.

"It's not funny Tuck! I feel bad for the guy, he thinks I fancy him!" Tears streamed from Tuckers eyes

"This is just CLASSIC! I can't believe you actually went through with it Danny!" Danny sighed in annoyance

"Yeah, well it's not like I had any choice was it?" This only made Tucker laugh harder, slapping his thigh as he tried to control his amusement.

"You could have just not booked a ticket and gone 'intangible' in ghost-mode, thus getting in for free and without a date." The colour in Danny's face drained as Tucker's words sunk in

"Why didn't I think of that before! Tucker, you could have said that _before_ I asked out the gay kid!" Tucker was rolling about laughing again; Danny narrowed his eyes and shook his head feeling a little sick. He looked back to Denzel; he looked so happy, Danny couldn't just go back and say he'd changed his mind, he didn't have the heart.

"Well I better go and buy a couple of tickets then…I bloody well hope they've sold out." He muttered as he left Tucker alone to die of laughter.

Unfortunately they hadn't sold out quite yet. The yearbook team were the organisers of the dance and were the ones selling the tickets, two girls in Jaz's year sat at the desk issuing them.

"Oh, hey Danny." Megan Hartfield sang, who Danny vaguely knew through Jaz.

"Hi." He muttered grimly "Two please." Prizing Ten bucks from his pockets and handing it over.

"Oh, Sam already bought one, but she was with that really cute guy from the year above you guys, what was his name Lucy?" She asked the girl sat next to her, who replied

"Richard…" In a dreamy voice. Danny licked his lips in nervousness and asked them who Richard was exactly.

"He's just Richard. He's not the sort of guy I would usually have a crush on coz he's into these really weird things, like ultra-something or other-vegetarianism-"

"Ultra-recyclo-vegetarianism?" Danny asked grimly

"Oh yeah! That's it. He also listens to this heavy metal music stuff-"

"So he's a goth?" He ventured to ask, this sounded worse and worse for Danny and better and better for Sam at every minute

"Yeah, but he's not all greasy and miserable like most of those freaks, he's a dreamboat…tall, dark and handsome with all these deep and meaningful thoughts on life and he' so friendly!" She hummed, her eyes glassing over.

"Great." Danny murmured under his breath, taking the tickets that Megan was handing him.

"Danny, have you and Sam spilt up? It looked like she was sort of _involved _with Richard." Megan asked in concern for her friend's little brother.

"We were never a couple." He said quietly with regret in his voice.

"Oh. I thought you two were an item." Danny shrugged and stepped towards the door as the bell for afternoon lessons sang out.

"I wish." He said under his breath before thanking them for the tickets and making his way to Maths class.

Now that Danny was too upset to look at Sam, she had decided to sit in her chair next to Danny's rather than take a free one like she had done in Geography class. He was afraid she'd start to mock him about Denzel as well now as he assumed Tucker had told everyone by now. But she didn't say anything about it if she did know he was going with a boy to the dance.

"I hear you're going to the dance with 'Richard.'" Danny tried to say casually, but it sort of came out as more of a high-pitched squeak. Sam flushed red and nodded.

"Er, yeah. He was the one who sent me the card. I met him first at a protest march against something horrible and cruel, but I don't remember what it was actually against specifically. Then again at that Ultra-Recyclo-Vegetarianism protest I organised when I changed the lunch menu. Yeah…he's great. The first fanciable person who has been interested in me." She said much less enthusiastically then she should. Danny slouched into his chair with a grim glower. "…He's into all the things I'm into, we share the same passions in life; he's tall-" Danny interrupted her in a weak voice

"I'm tall..sort of…not really actually.." But if she had heard him she showed no signs of it as she continued

"Has the deepest blue eyes-"

"I have blue eyes; sometimes they're green though…"

"…And he's the lead singer in the rock band 'Devil's Spiders' who are getting real acclaim in the Amity Park goth scene right now, they're just so unique-"

"You said I was unique once…" By now his voice was so weak Sam wouldn't have been able to hear him even if she had been listening. He had to face up to it; Richard sounded a way better match for Sam than he was. He knew he should be feeling happy for her, but all he felt was jealously.

"And he treats me like a Princess, I've never felt better about myself…" Danny didn't notice the vague insincerity to her voice; he was too busy feeling like his heart had been ripped in two.

"Great…I'm…happy…happy…for you. Yeah." Danny muttered, not looking up from his desk.

"…Thanks…"

Maths class continued, not that Danny really noticed, he was too busy locked in his own thoughts. By the time the bell for the end of the day sounded all his energy was sapped and his head hurt as much as his heart.

"Tucker, are you going to the dance?" Sam asked him as they walked out of the building, he shook his head

"Nah…The girls in this school don't know quality when they see it." Sam smiled and patted Tucker on the back

"Yah Tuck, yeah. Well have fun with whatever you plan to do tonight." Tuck tried to hide a sly smile, his eyes glinting

"Oh, I will." He assured her before splitting off and heading off towards his house leaving Danny and Sam in uncomfortable silence.

"So what are you gunna do tonight?" She asked him with a forced voice.

"I'm going to the ball." He said simply, to which Sam furrowed her brows before thinking she had realised how he would get in without a date.

"Oh, you're going to go intangible and sneak in are you?"

"Nope. I have a date." He sighed, but then realised how amusing his situation would be if he wasn't in it, he chuckled under his breath, not noticing Sam's face drop.

"You have a date! Who!" He could hear the panic in her voice and it made him a little happier, he crossed his arms and frowned at her.

"Why should you care Sam?" Her mouth gaped a little before she snapped her lips together and narrowed her eyes in a sulk. A little time passed with them walking in an awkward silence, Sam was still frowning and glancing over to Danny every now and then.

"Danny…I'm sorry that I have been so sour to you today." She said all in a rush, her features soft in her genuine regret for being in a mood with Danny earlier. He gave her a sidelong glance with a hint of surprise and suspicion at her apology. He couldn't quite think of what to say as a response. "…If you asked someone to the ball as a retaliation, I understand…"

"It's got nothing to do with you being in a mood with me." He said haughtily. They had just got to the part of their journey where Sam had to turn off to her own house; he stopped as she replied. Her features were unreadable, like she was trying to straighten out a particular expression that would give away her feelings.

"Oh. I see. Well… I might see you there." She had clearly forced her voice so that it sounded level, her fists were clenched tightly at her sides and her eyes were downcast. Danny nodded as nonchalantly as he could

"Yeah…might do… bye then." With great effort he turned around and tried at sauntering off casually, attempting to ignore the insistent thumping in his chest. Unable to resist, he stole a fleeting look behind him to see Sam running down the street and then rounded the corner towards her house.

At teatime that evening, which was held a little earlier than usual so the kids could get ready for the dance on time, Danny had to 'fess up about going with Denzel. 'I knew I should have offered to pick him up from his house!' he thought to himself sourly.

"Look, Mum, Dad. I have to tell you something…I'm going to the dance with a boy called Denzel tonight." He slouched further into his chair with a hangdog look, cowering a little in apprehension of their response.

"You're gay?" Jaz squealed in excitement.

"That's great!" Jack beamed proudly "I always thought you were just a little too 'normal' to be a Fenton. I'm glad you have proved me wrong." Maddy glared at her husband

"Being gay is not abnormal Jack!" Her icy stare melted as she looked towards her son. "Oh Danny, why do you look so ashamed! Did you think we wouldn't approve? We support you with whoever you end up growing up to be." She said warmly. Danny suddenly felt a little guilty for being afraid of telling them about being a half-ghost, but the feeling passed in favour of explaining himself to them little better.

"No, I'm not gay, I just have to go to the dance and he was the last person I could ask." Jack's face dropped

"What! You're _not _gay! This is an insult to the Fenton name! I should throw you out onto the streets right now you-"

"Jack!" Maddy snapped darkly, to which he cowered with an abashed pout of his lips. "Why don't you go with Sam? I thought you and she were getting along nicely." With a softly perturbed air Danny explained that Sam was going with someone else.

"Oh dear!" Maddy cried, shaking her head "So is that why you want to go to the ball? To convince her she should have gone with you?" She asked, Danny shrugged and dimly nodded, supposing that was as good an excuse as any to convince his parents that he should go to the dance.

"Aw! That's so cute!" Jaz beamed as she stood up having finished eating. "Well I'm going to go and get ready." She announced, heading off towards the stairs. Danny decided he should start to get ready too and retired to his room to dig his suit out of the depths of his cupboard.

To be Continued…

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Authors Note:

I apologise if this is a pile of rubbish, I didn't read through it much (couldn't be bothered, I'm too busy writing my real story!) Email me if there's too many mistakes and I'll correct them and re-post it.

Thanks to all who have read and reviewed! There should only be one, (maybe two) chapters left depending on how the next part goes…

I think maybe I wrote Denzel too stereotypically camp here! But I sort based him loosely on my mate Pete, although he's not quite so camp, and looks different…but the basis is there!

I apologise if bits of this don't make sense, as I said earlier I have only watched the first few episodes, as I never catch any of the later episodes. They seem to have stopped showing Danny Phantom in the UK now NOOO! I've not seen any with 'Inviso-Bill' in, so I guess this story is sort of based around the earlier episodes.

Sigh! Well I'm off to daydream about my four favourite guys, two of which are actually real! (Danny, Reno of The Turks, Craig Nicholls from The Vines and Saracen- my boyfriend. I'll leave it up to you to figure out who's real and who's not!)

Izzia.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: The italic song lyrics are by Norah Jones, not me by the way, I own her lyrics as much as I own Danny, which is not at all (d'oh!)

Chapter 3

The doorbell chimed, Danny was sat watching TV in the living room. He lazily stood and stretched; cursing the suit he was wearing, as it was stiff and uncomfortable. When he answered the door he saw that it was Jaz's date, Tom. He was tall, with chocolate coloured silky hair and deep blue eyes, his smile revealed a perfect set of white teeth and made little dimples in his cheeks.

"Hi there, is Jaz ready?" He asked with a smooth voice. Danny nodded and shouted

"JAZ!" As loudly as he could, "Come in." He stood aside to let Tom through and caught a glimpse of Denzel just stepping out of a sleek car, he whirled around in a flush to Tom and Jaz, who had just come down the stairs.

"My…friend is here. I'll see you guys later." He said in a flutter, keen to get gone before Tom saw his date was actually a boy. Jaz beamed

"Sure thing Danny. Good luck with Sam!" Danny nodded and sidestepped out the door with an apprehensive smile; he closed the door and stood to his full height as Denzel reached him.

"Hiya. Shall we go now?" Denzel looked a little disappointed and glanced towards the house.

"Can't I come in?" He asked regretfully.

"Er, best to steer clear of that mad house, Jaz has her date, Tom Coban, there, and…" Denzel's eyes glossed over and his lips parted

"Tom Coban!" He said breathlessly. "He's so dreamy! Oh, yah, we should probably go now then, I don't want cha to get jealous!" He turned back to his car and opened the door for Danny. After going around to the other side he buckled his belt and leant towards the driver in the front.

"Dad, this is Danny! Danny -dad!" All Danny got from him was a sneer and a grunt.

"So your sister is going with Tom is she?" Denzel asked happily, Danny unclenched his teeth to reply an affirmative. "Aw! All the good 'uns are straight ain't they? Sigh!" Danny shot him an edgy look totally uncertain in how to respond to that question, but Denzel seemed to take his wide eyes and jittery expressions positively. "Aw! Don't worry Danny, you're one of the few whose a good 'un and at a nice bent angle!" There was another grunt from Denzels father which hid Danny's own stifled moan. Fortunately they pulled up at the school before Danny got too uncomfortable; after Denzel thanked his grunting father they walked up to the school hall. Danny handed the ticket checkers their tickets and was glad to finally have a nice amount of people there with them when they got into the hall.

He pushed through the crowds towards the emptier area at the back near the non-alcoholic punch, glad the music was loud, as Denzel kept trying to say something to him that was lost to the music. Danny shrugged and gestured to his ear, shrugging again. As he helped himself to punch from the bowl that wasn't being spiked with vodka by one of the seniors, he thought to himself how much better the music was compared to previous dances. Amazingly the DJ seemed to be playing a song that wasn't from the '80s. Once his cup was nicely full he turned around to face the dance floor, his eyes peeled for Sam as he scanned the room with his eyes, sipping his punch.

"Yuk!" He spat the drink back out into his cup. "OK…someone's had fun spiking all the punch." He hated vodka. He tutted and placed his cup on the table not wanting to get drunk when he was meant to be there to catch a ghost. Which reminded him, he extended his static search from Sam to Sam and Cupid. Neither came trumps up and Denzel kept pestering him about wanting to dance.

"Er…I'm not really a good dancer…I'm happy just standing…" He shouted to be heard over the music. It was a shame that he did actually feel like dancing, though he refused to dance with a guy who fancied him. If he saw Sam maybe she'd pity him and offer him a dance. His overactive mind wandered off again as he visualised Sam dancing arm in arm with Richard (who was still a greasy unattractive goth with a RICHARD name badge, despite what the two girls had told him earlier). Danny was, as usual in his daydreams, considerably better looking than he thought he was in real life, his pearly teeth flashing as he sidestepped beside Sam and Richard and smiled at her. He had a cocktail stick between his teeth and his hair slicked back like James Bond.

"Do you mind if I cut in?" His dream self asked Richard, not waiting for a reply as he scooped Sam into his arms and waltzed with her, spinning her this way and that with a cheeky grin, the cocktail stick resting between his lips.

"Are you ok Danny?" He snapped out of the daydream to see the real Sam there giving him an odd look, he gaped and coughed slightly. She looked gorgeous, her hair gathered up in a clasp, loose clusters of hair had been curled and flopped over her face beautifully, accenting her dark lined violet eyes. She wore a black and red dress, which was laced like a corset at the top and bellowed out in a full length silky red, orange, purple and black skirt, the colours like flames licking the ground as she walked, the little cut gems embedded into the material sparkled the light back. She was truly stunning. He tried to say hello, his jaw worked, but no sound beyond a high-pitched croak came out, that was lost to the music anyway. "This is Richard." She gestured to a tallish smooth skinned poster pin up boy. He had black and red heavily feathered hair, which formed soft spikes; the feathered soft spikes stuck out and up very slightly, a few clusters flopping over his face attractively. Steel blue eyes shone brightly with the lashes long and grew so closely together it was almost like he had lined his eyes with eyeliner. A delicate silver hoop earring pierced through his right ear. His skin was bronzed, not from idle sun bathing, but from inheritance of his people who lived in a place that saw many sunny days. His outfit was impressive to say the least with a snugly fitting long blazer like coat that came in at the waist then flicked out over his hips. White laced ruffs poked out from under the sleeves and his trousers were sleek and black, cut all the way down the side of the legs with red material showing through. The splits were re-clasped together with delicate buckles save for the last foot or so of the trousers, which flared out showing through the red material that covered his chunky boots. 'Curses!' Danny thought, his chances of ever getting with Sam slashed in half now he saw the competition with his own eyes.

"Hi." Was all Danny could say loud enough to hear over the music. Sam seemed a little distracted, looking all around at everything other than Danny or Richard.

"So…where's your date?" She asked through half clenched teeth, her eyes still flicking around. Danny sighed, he may as well 'fess up now, she'd find out soon enough. He looked over to Denzel who was hovering around the snacks. Denzel flashed Danny a smile and came up next to him.

"This is my date, Denzel." He murmured, hands in pockets, cheeks flushed and eyes downcast. Sam's jaw dropped, she looked between Danny and Denzel with wide eyes and gaping mouth.

"Danny! You never said you were gay!" Denzel raised his brows and leant in towards Danny

"I think I'll leave you to fill her in alone hon'." He scuttled off to the snack table again. Danny inhaled deeply, but before he could explain Sam weakly shrugged.

"Well, Denzel's real catch…he's really good looking and I hear he's a sweetheart." She said blankly.

"I could say the same about Richard." He smiled; Richard had joined Denzel at the snack table. Sam drew back with arched brows

"You like Richard too?" She didn't even try to hide her mortified response to the idea of Danny fancying her date.

"No! I don't fancy Denzel either. I'm not gay, even if he thinks I am. I just needed someone to go with so I could catch Cupid. Cupid doesn't even seem to be here though." Frustration lined his features as he took another fleeting look over the crowd in case Cupid was there somewhere, but he still couldn't see him.

"That's low Danny, really low. Poor Denzel! God Danny! I can't believe you asked a guy over me! I'm one of your best friends! Can you understand why I'm in a mood with you?…and Poor Denzel.." She repeated shaking her head with a disappointed air and adding. "Why didn't you just 'go-ghost' and go intangible?" Danny glowered gloomily

"Yeah, well me and my stupid brain didn't think of that did I? I think it was all part of Tuckers twisted plan to humiliate me for kicks." Sam rubbed her lips together, looking off in thought and tapping her index finger against her lower lip.

"I saw Tucker sneaking about earlier, I don't know how he got in without a date, but he had loads of photography and video equipment. I asked what he was doing and he said he was planning to film the dance a bit and hopefully get some good footage to post on the Internet." Danny inhaled sharply now scanning the room for Tucker, but couldn't see him either.

"I'll bet he's wanting to catch some Denzel-Danny action." Danny said dryly.

"Well it serves you right Danny Fenton for being such a jerk!" Before Danny could ask her what she meant, Richard sauntered back to Sam's side, slipping his arm around her slender waist and causing a flood of jealousy to hit Danny.

"Nice to finally meet you Danny, Sam has told me so much about you… she's all like 'Danny this…Danny that!' Honestly it makes a guy wonder if she's going out with the right guy! I'm glad you're gay though mate!" Sam flushed red and whirled round

"Let's dance." She insisted to Richard half pulling him to the dance floor leaving a rather pleased Danny alone.

An hour passed by uneventfully, Sam seemed to be avoiding Danny and Cupid wasn't about. Denzel had got bored with asking Danny to dance and had disappeared to talk to his girlfriends. Once or twice he had spotted Tucker hiding behind a pot plant, then the apparatus tucked in at the side of the hall, a camera in his hand filming Denzel. He didn't look very happy though, probably because Danny refused to give Tucker an opportunity for Internet worthy Danny/Denzel action. His boredom lifted with a bang as he caught a glimpse of Cupid intently gazing at Jaz and Tom who were dancing a slow dance embracing tightly. Danny narrowed his eyes, glad for the distraction as he weaved through the crowd, his Fenton Thermos held tightly in his grip. Just before he reached the ogling spook the music was cut and Megan Hartfield stepped up to the microphone hmmffing into it to check the sound. Danny was momentarily distracted by it, so when he turned back to Cupid he saw he was gone. Danny cursed under his breath and slipped his Thermos away to listen to Megan, seeing as Cupid had vanished.

"Ok. Hello students! Thank you all for supporting the Yearbook team by coming to this dance, I hope you're all having a wonderful time! Well, all this month we have had a ballot box up in the yearbook office so you guys could vote for this years Valentine King and Queen. You voted in your tens! Nah, we got about a hundred votes in all- so thanks! OK, so I'm happy to announce that this year's most popular couple has been voted as:…" The band (who had just arrived to play slow dance music for the rest of the night) played some dramatic music as she paused to open the envelope she had been clutching. Danny took another glance around the hall for Cupid. He spotted him at the back munching some crisps. Just as he started to make his way back through the crowd towards the ghost he heard his name called out by Megan

"Danny Fenton and Sam Manson! Whoa voters! They're not actually a couple! Oh well, you've been voted as the school's best couple anyway, so come up and receive your crowns!" Danny's feet seemed rooted to the spot, everyone was staring at him; he caught little bits of people's conversations about the winning couple as he finally made his way up to the stage.

"Did she say they aren't a couple? I always thought they were!"

"Aw! So cute! They so are the best couple in this school, geek love is actually pretty cute!"

"I cannot believe it! _I _should be the Valentines Queen! Dash, make sure Samantha is a black blue bruise by tomorrow morning!" He heard Paulina squeal, to which Dash obtusely replied

"Er, I don't think I can beat up a girl. I can beat up Danny for you instead. I was gunna do that anyway…" Danny had reached the stage now; Sam was just walking up to Megan with crimson cheeks. He felt his own flushed with a ruby red as he stood next to Sam. Megan crowned Danny with a plain gold metal band and then Sam with a much more ornate spangled tiara that sat on her neatly styled hair beautifully.

"Would the lovely couple like to say a few words?" Megan asked, Sam nodded, her lips pressed together

"Yah. I would." Megan passed her the microphone, a beaming smile on her lips. Sam took it, her cheeks reddening further and she hesitantly spoke into the microphone. "Thank you, but Danny and I aren't a couple." She thought this would be an excellent forum for clarifying this to as many people as possible; she was starting to get sick of shouting "He's not my boyfriend!" whenever people referred to him as such. They could hear laughter in the crowd and someone shouted

"Yeah right! You keep telling yourselves that!" Megan had taken the microphone back and spoke into it again.

"OK, will the happy non-couple care to dance together for one slow song, as is traditional for the Valentine King and Queen." Sam scowled, but when Megan whispered in her ear begging her to just have one dance she caved in. Danny held his arm out for Sam to take and led her down to the dance floor, his stomach feeling light and feet as if they were walking on air. The band started up a slow song, Norah Jones's 'What am I To You?'. He wished he could control the excited butterfly's in his stomach as he brought her close to him and let her lean into him, the crowd rose up into a cheer as they started to lightly rock to the gentle music. They danced in silence for a few bars. Danny felt so warm inside, like everything in the whole world was perfect, that life was so uplifting and he belonged right where he was with Sam's soft arms draped around him.

Denzel looked on feeling quite the opposite of Danny; why did they have to look so perfect for one another? He had a suspicion that Danny wasn't gay at all looking at the contended smile on his lips.

"It's just sickening isn't it?" Came the smooth voice of a boy with short brown hair that had been styled into a subtle ridge. He had smooth skin and stylish chunky black-rimmed glasses, his bright grey eyes were dreamy and he looked dashing in his blue suit. "The name's James." He informed a miserable Denzel with a bright smile. "What I was saying is that it's sickening that all the goodens turn out straight isn't it? But hear you bat for the same team as me, and it's certainly not the one Danny Fenton is on….Wanna dance?" He asked him; Denzel broke into a grin and took James' hand, letting him lead him to the dance floor that was now being filled up leaving a little space surrounding the King and Queen.

_# To me you're the sea, Vast as you can be, And deep the shade of blue_

Danny managed to find a voice through his inflamed heart, looking down into her deep eyes.

"How are you enjoying your evening then?" He asked almost breathlessly. She shrugged, looking down for a moment.

"Hmm…not so good…" Danny's happy bubble burst, his eyes drooped

"Is that coz you have to dance with me?" He asked, deflated. She chuckled, her long lashes sweeping across her eyes for a second, her sweet smile making her eyes sparkle.

"No, this is the only redeeming part of the evening. To be honest, I wasn't enjoying Richard's company all that much." Warmth seeped back into him

"How come? You two are perfect for one another, into the same stuff, I hear he's quite a catch with the ladies…what's the problem?" He wished he could have just said nothing, but if he had learned one thing from watching Richard and Sam together earlier it was that Richard treated her so lovingly and he had felt terrible that he never did those little gestures to her; Sam's happiness was more important than his own feelings. She shrugged, resting her head on Danny's lapel for a moment before answering.

"He's lovely, he really is. He's just _too _much like me! I don't wanna date myself! And he takes things a little further than me, he has all these hobbies, I dunno how to compete with him. Pagan drumming, volunteering at the park and animal rescue centre, protesting almost every week against various different atrocities, his band, additional school work… I don't know where I could fit into his life, y'know. And it's weird not being able to talk about ghosts with him too. They have become such a large part of my life! Besides I…" She bit down lightly on her lip, blushing "I couldn't concentrate on what he was saying either because my mind was all filled up with thoughts of another guy…A guy who is just so amazing, a guy who I have dreamed of dancing with like this almost since I first met him…"

"Who?" Danny asked in a quiet husky voice, his stomach not knowing what to feel anymore.

"He's got the cutest blue eyes, his raven hair sweeps over them in such a way that my heart flutters to look at him. But I'm so torn because I like another guy too, who is just as gorgeous, not to mention they both make me laugh so hard, I could talk to either of them for hours. This other one, he has the snowiest hair I have ever seen, and his eyes are shining emerald beacons, plus he can do all these cool things. He even held me in his arms and flew over Amity Park with me once, it was gorgeous, he's gorgeous." Danny's heart thumped against his chest, his breathing was broken as he whispered

"..Me?" Hoping there wasn't some other guy who could fly and had white hair. She laughed gently again, warmly smiling and looking up into his azure eyes.

_# When I look in your eyes,I can feel butterflies, Could you find a love in me?_

Slowly she drew up even closer to him, lifting her head and brushing her gentle fingers across his cheeks, running her hands behind the back of his neck as their noses touched. Everything melted away and all that was left was himself and Sam as her soft lips brushed his own lightly, then stronger. An electric feeling pulsed through him, his soul throbbed and heartbeat raced as they kissed with increasing passion. Life was sweet, he forgot everything except Sam, nothing else was important, there was only Sam and himself and he would keep her in his arms forever or die trying to make sure he didn't loose her.

He became dimly aware of some sort of commotion going on around them, but was extremely reluctant to break off from their sweet embrace. It was Sam who pulled away first, looking around with a confused stare. The sound that Danny's ears had dimmed suddenly came back into clear focus as he realised that the commotion was far more serious than he had at first thought. Everyone was running around screaming generally running to the exit away from a huge man with bulging muscles and was humming with power, throwing what looked like ectoplasmic goo at the screaming students. He had to be twice as beefy as Skulker, although his bulk was muscular, not a metallic casing like Skulker's. His hair was so blonde it was almost white and those glowing green eyes were somehow familiar. The muscular man saw Danny and grinned

"Thank you young lovers, I thought I was doomed to a year of being pushed about by the tough ghosts, until you two started to admit your love to one another. You emitted more love than I ever felt from teenagers before. As a reward for your nutritious love I won't kill you (Besides, I know where to some next year if you two are still together, best not kill off something so tasty eh?)"

"Cupid!" Danny clenched his fists and narrowed his eyes, Tucker had come up to them and instinctively joined with Sam to hug onto Danny to hide him as he turned to ghost-mode. They jumped back from Danny Phantom as he rushed towards Cupid with brows pushed together in focused determination. Cupid was by now throwing beams of laser-like power to people with a greedy grin at the commotion he was causing.

"Oh no you don't" Danny quipped as he swung his leg around and sliced his foot across the ghost's chest, winding it a little. He shot up into the air and rounded on the ghost again, bringing his fist down hard and fast onto it's skull sending it crashing to the floor. Cupid got himself together, anger written in his expressions as he formed a lightning attack, thrusting it towards Danny.

"I hate to break your heart, but I'm gunna have to anyway." Danny jibed as he formed a shield that the lightning bounced off, rebounding back to Cupid and striking him down. "All is fair in love and war and this is both." He took a peek towards Sam and Tucker, wishing they'd just run for it and leave him to it, he didn't want Sam to get hurt. Or Tucker, of course. But mostly Sam. Cupid had by now got up again, a sword of light appearing in his hands, his green eyes glowing greedily as he swung it towards Danny who only just missed being slashed by going intangible just in time. Danny shook his head, his heart beating fast in fear and anger combined. 'How did he make that sword? I could do with one of those!' he thought to himself desperately as the ghost swung at him again, narrowly missing. The third swipe nicked his arm before he could go intangible again, causing warm blood to ooze up and trickle down his arm

"Danny!" he heard a concerned Sam shout from below, but he had no time to think about her for now. He concentrated on forming a sword of light, hoping it would work. When it did he couldn't help but grin widely, admiring his work.

"Danny watch out!" Tucker called, Danny went intangible instinctively, Cupid's light sword slashed right through him, not hurting due to his intangibility.

Gritting his teeth together he tightened his grip on his own light sword bringing it up to Cupid and swathing upwards. Cupid cried out in pain as the blade tore across his chest, ripping his shirt and tearing skin.

"What can I say? Love hurts." Danny let the light sword fizzle out so he could get his Thermos, wanting to end this fight as soon as possible. Cupid was brawny thanks to his love for Sam and he didn't like to stay in battle with ghost three times his size and weight if he could avoid it. His Thermos was knocked out of his hand though before he could activate it, the cylindrical container flipping through the air as it fell out of Danny's reach.

"Oh crud." He swore, feeling strong hands grab him around the arm and pull him up a terrifying speed, the room blurring around him. With a painful thud he hit the ceiling, all his breath was knocked out of him roughly. He had started to fall to earth again and had to quickly angle up and take flight to avoid being a splattered mess on the hall floor. He gained flight control and swept down towards Sam who was holding the Thermos. With a glance up to Cupid he quickly shot him a dose of ectoplasmic goo to keep him busy while he got the Thermos ready. He took the flask from Sam giving her a little peck on the cheek, making her blush. He flashed her a cheeky grin and turned to face Cupid, who had just grown even bigger simply from the little kiss he had just planted on Sam's cheek.

"Get your own girlfriend and stop perving on other people you freak!" Danny snapped, opening the Thermos lid and sucking Cupid into it with great effort to fight against his resistance to the Thermos. Finally all was still and the Thermos held Cupid. Danny sagged with relief. "Phew!" He sighed, looking over to Sam again, who was chuckling softly. He gave her a puzzled look, standing up straight and asking her what she was finding amusing.

"You still have your Valentines crown on your head. The King of all ghosts, Danny Phantom!" He laughed too, taking the gold band from his hair and clasping it in his hands.

"I'm going home." Tucker sulked "I didn't get one good shot of you and Denzel together, what a waste of time!" As they were the only people remaining in the building Danny returned to his human mode without needing to find anywhere private to do so.

"Serves you right for not suggesting I come to dance intangible!" Tucker shook his head in pseudo-annoyance.

"Yah, well I got plenty of snaps of _you _two hip on hip, lip on lip. People who knew you weren't a couple before have been betting on when or if you'd get together. I plan to cash in with these fine pics!" He tapped his camera and headed off, passing by the band who were nervously returning to gather their instruments together.

"People were taking bets on us! Crazy!" Sam chuckled and they stood together laughing lightly. The lead singer smiled over to them

"Seeing as that nasty fellow has gone would the King and Queen like one last dance?" She asked. Sam nodded and embraced Danny as the band started playing a slightly more upbeat song than the last one.

They spun around the room, laughing and having fun until they embraced closer, turning more serious. After a few bars of her resting her head on his lapel and him resting his chin on the top of her head she lifted her head up to gaze into his eyes, getting happily lost in them. Danny was so happy he found himself hovering above the ground, holding Sam with him, his hair turned white and eyes green, but he still wore his blazer-suit, as he hadn't completely gone ghost. She gasped and held him tighter

"Danny! Bring us down!" He laughed and did as she requested, going fully human again. She laughed when he muttered a husky apology.

"I love you Danny Fen-Phant-ton!"

The End

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Authors note

Firstly; thanks to all those readers out there and double thanks to those who reviewed, I live off reviews! I really appreciate it. So BIG cheers to: riotrockergurl, SilverSummerMoon, Kaburu (your lovely review made me smile for a week!), Mental Mess, Master of Procrastination (what a cool name!), SetsuntaMew, Kats02980416 (yeah, what you say about Sam/Danny is true, Danny doesn't treat her right. If I wrote the show he'd appreciate her more!), Mars Cutie, AndieWitter or SSWBA, Unlikely-to-bear-it, kitty00240, amylovestakuya, Lady Serenity Moon Child (I hope the movie comes out here, UK Nick toons really suck though, so I doubt it.), ANIME FAN ANGUS, RobinRox13, justtoreadurfics (YOU ROCK!), rikagirls, (and anyone else who read it,) I love you all, I just read everyone's profiles, you all seem like lovely peoples.

Secondly; it appears that some of my reviewers were a little weirded out by the Denzel/Danny thing. As I come from somewhere where homosexuality is absolutely no different from heterosexuality it is I who is weirded out that people could be uncomfortable with it! When writing it I really didn't even consider that some people would think twice about it, or think the Denzel thing is weird! I was kind of worried that Danny was reacting too strongly embarrassed at going with Denzel actually! So I'm really sorry if this story arc made people feel uncomfortable, I considered re-writing it, but hey! On behalf of all my gay friends out there it wouldn't be right or fair.

Thirdly; that was so much fluffier than I meant it to be. Oh well. I'm a heavy metal music fan so I had to ditch my 'In Flames' CD in favour of Norah Jones just to be able to write a love scene! The result is oh-so-much more fluffy than I would usually write (it's hard to write fluffy love scenes to head banging metal though!)

Yuk! Why am I still listening to Norah! Goodbye Norah, hello Rage Against The Machine! (goes and changes CD)…Ah…that's better!

Maybe I'll write more Danny Phantom fiction some day…maybe. For now Reno of the Turks beckons me (sorry folks but Reno beats Danny, probably coz he's closer to me in age and he's a bad guy, bad guys are the coolest. And I love red hair even more than I love white hair!) If you've never played Final Fantasy 7 you won't know what I'm talking about…

Cheers folks,

Izzia


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